ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 195 



the habit never did them any harm. In the American 

 Islands they were made ill by it, and it was forbidden in 

 consequence ; but a kind of earth (un tuf rouge jaunatre) 

 was, in 1751, sold secretly in the market in Martinique. 

 "Les negres de Guinee disent que dans leur pays ils 

 mangent habituellement une certaine terre, dont le gout leur 

 plait, sans en etre incommodes. Ceux qui sont dans 1'abus 

 de manger du Caouac en sont si friands qu'il n'y a pas de 

 chatiment qui puisse les empecher de devorer de la terre." 

 (Thibault de Chanvalon, Voyage a la Martinique, p. 85.) 

 In the Island of Java, between Sarabaya and Samarang, 

 Labillardiere saw small square reddish-coloured cakes exposed 

 for sale in the villages. The natives called them tana ampo 

 (tanah, in Malay and Javanese, signifies earth). On examina- 

 tion and enquiry he found that the cakes consisted of reddish 

 clay, and that they were eaten. (Voyage a la Eecherche de 

 la Perouse, T. ii. p. 322.) The edible clay of Samarang 

 has recently been sent to Berlin by Mohnike, in 1847, in 

 the shape of rolled tubes, like cinnamon, and has been 

 examined by Ehrenberg. It is a fresh-water formation 

 deposited on limestone, and consisting of microscopic 

 Polygastrica, Gaillonella, Naviculas, and Phytolitharia. 

 (Bericht iiber die Verhandl. der Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, 

 aus dem J. 1848, S. 222-225.) The inhabitants of New 

 Caledonia, to appease their hunger, eat pieces as big as 

 the fist of friable steatite, wliich Vauquelin found to contain 

 in addition no inconsiderable quantity of copper. (Voyage 

 a la Eecherche de la Perouse, T. ii. p. 205.) In Popayan, 

 and several parts of Peru, calcareous earth is sold in the 



